Big Brother
by Hunnybee
Summary: Trapped in a room with Walkers clamoring to break through the other side, Carl must decide the best way to protect his sister. Sometimes survival means doing the unthinkable. [Complete]


Big Brother

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

* * *

Carl held Judith in his arms, caught between consoling his newborn sister and checking to make sure the barricade still held. The wooden door creaked loudly as the gathering circle of Walkers pressed for entry.

If more came, the door wouldn't hold.

Baby Judith keened a cry as though she knew the danger they were in, drawing Car's attention back away from the door. He pulled her closer to his chest in an attempt to calm her, but she grew fussier instead.

"Judith, please be quiet," he begged.

Noise, any noise echoed through the hollow prison facility and a stray Walker could trace a sound miles away back to its source. Trying to shush her again Carl felt his pulse surge between his chest and where his sister's head lay. His heartbeat was thunderous, pumping frantically with both fear and adrenaline and he realized it was his bodies own panic keeping her from quieting down. Taking in a deep breath, he attempted to slow his heartbeat. Carl held his breath for steady intervals, until he could at last feel the pace of his heart descend from a quick-trot to an even beat, Judith calming down to a quiet alongside his gradually slowing heart rate.

_Slam_

The door heaved harder than ever, the growls of the ravenous horde nearly spiking his heartbeat back to a gallop. Shifting his sister entirely to his left arm, he awkwardly reached for his firearm while trying to keep his sister balanced-eight rounds left.

Carl's face fell. That wouldn't even make a dent.

Someone had found their group. Cut off their locks and led the Walkers to their doorstep. Carl had just enough time to grab his baby sister and high tail it out of C-block with the rest of them. He and Judith got separated from the group and he was forced to run for an exit that seemed to drive them further away from the group. Carl found himself in a completely unfamiliar section of the prison, many of the Walkers he saw now, wore civilian clothes and staff uniforms. He figured he ended somewhere in the personnel barracks, there were fewer bars and it appeared they at least tried to make it homier.

With no way of knowing Carl ran right into a dead end, that quickly closed off, his only hope had been an open door at the end of the hall. Sprinting for his life he emptied five rounds to clear the door and one more inside what he discovered to be a storage room. He locked the door and dragged an overturned shelf behind it to help block the entrance. As he gathered his bearings inside the room, he saw no windows, no vents or separate access of any kind.

The only way out was the way they came in.

He had trapped them in a room with no escape. The reality of dying: ugly and tangible, creeped into his bones and it made him sick, he wouldn't be able to protect himself or Judith. Judith, a baby who made noise, couldn't run, couldn't fight, and couldn't defend herself. He looked down at his sister the brewing hopelessness etched into his face. Completely dependent on others to survive. 'Walker bait' was how they referred to people like that and despicable as the thought was, no matter how brief it touched his mind, it upset him to think it-sacrificing Judith to escape.

Carl knew he would never but it birthed a new worry inside him. One day would this infected world turn him into a person who could sacrifice somebody-a family member or a friend, for his own sake. His dad the deputy sheriff had always protected him so he never had to think about it, even as he watched his father make those decisions time and again. He didn't know what he'd do, if faced with a choice like that. But what he did know was Judith was not just his little sister, she was apart of the group. And each member protected each other—even when they couldn't. If that that day did come, Carl decided he'd put the bullet in himself. Right now he wasn't that person and after their mother died to make sure that Judith lived, he would be twice damned if he didn't do the same.

_Bam _

A hand burst through the straining door, grasping frantically for flesh to eat. With a hole now in the door, it would be a matter of minutes before they pulled it apart.

Carl needed to hurry.

Holstering his gun he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a square piece of cloth, the checkered pattern of wool dingy from wear. Carl had torn it from his mother's sleeve when Judith was born, all she would have of their mom would be stories and the lingering scent left in this fabric. Folding it into an even smaller square he pressed it inside the bundle wrapped around his sister, hoping that Lori's smell would help keep Judith calm and block the putrid odor of rotting flesh. Gently setting Judith down in a back corner first, Carl dragged the downed Walker over to where she lay.

Opposite the gun holster Carl kept a hunting knife on his left hip. Darryl gave it to him as a birthday present some months ago on the road. Hands grasped firmly around the hard rubber of the handle Carl plunged the 7-inch blade into the Walker's chest cavity and right down to his belly the Walkers breached the door the Walkers would pour into the room and devour them both. Outside of rescue or a diversion to draw them away, their best chance to survive was to blend in. Scooping its entrails into his hand Carl rubbed his hands together until he had a thick paste of dead blood and tissue.

Stretching out his hands to the wrapped bundle, he went to work on Judith first.

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated.


End file.
